2 arrested in California after man found encased in concrete in bathtub in Honolulu
Two men were arrested in Southern California Wednesday and charged with the death of an elderly man whose body was found encased in concrete in a bathtub in Honolulu, authorities said.
On Monday, patrol officers were sent to a home in the east Honolulu neighborhood of Hawaii Loa Ridge to check on the 73-year-old owner who was reported missing, according to Honolulu police.
When authorities arrived at the house, they spoke with a man, later identified as Juan Tejedor Baron, 23, who said he knew the owner and lived in the home. Baron allowed detectives to search the home, but they did not find the owner. They did find a bathtub filled with concrete. Authorities say they saw Baron leave the home later with Scott Hannon, 34.
Hannon and Baron were taken in for questioning but were released early Tuesday, according to Hawaii News Now. The Honolulu Police Department turned over the investigation to homicide investigators, and on Tuesday, detectives began to chip away at the concrete. They discovered a decomposing body later identified as the missing man.
Lt. Deena Thoemmes of the Honolulu Police Department Criminal Investigation Division told Hawaii News Now that coffee grounds were on top of the concrete, probably to hide the smell.
"When we entered, we smelled coffee no doubt," Thoemmes said. "The body was in the stand-alone tub, and it was in a state of decomposition once we chipped away at the concrete mixture."
But the coffee grounds weren't enough to hide a "decaying smell" in the home.
"The victim and one of the suspects were involved in an intimate relationship. It is alleged that after the murder, the two suspects were living in the victim’s house and on the victim’s money until the neighbors complained about a decaying smell from the victim’s location," the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.
Authorities then named Baron and Hannon as suspects, and the Honolulu Police Department said they were "considered dangerous" and their whereabouts were unknown. With the help of U.S. marshals, police learned the two had fled the island of Oahu to Los Angeles.
About 5 p.m. PT, U.S. marshals and LAPD officers found and arrested Baron in Anaheim, less than 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Police said Baron pulled back a metal plate under a bench inside a Greyhound bus bound for Mexico and was hiding in the crawl space.
Less than two hours later, authorities located Hannon at an intersection in Inglewood, southwest of Los Angeles.
Baron and Hannon were booked into the LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center. They were being held without bail pending extradition hearings to be returned to Honolulu to face murder charges, authorities say.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner's office didn't release the identity of the deceased man on Thursday.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2 men arrested in CA after body found in concrete in bathtub in Hawaii
